Honorary doctorate for retired physics professor of TU Kaiserslautern

Professor Dr. Klaas Bergmann (right) receives the honorary doctorate: solemnly awarded by Professor Dr. Nikolay V. Vitanov, Vice-Rector of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. (Photo: Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski)

The University of St. Kliment Ohridski in Sofia/Bulgaria has awarded the honorary doctorate to Professor Dr. Klaas Bergmann from Kaiserslautern. The University of Sofia recognizes not only Bergmann's research achievements but also, in particular, his commitment to integrating colleagues from Eastern Europe into the European research landscape. Professor Bergmann conducted research until 2015 at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern (TUK) on laser procedures with applications in atomic and surface physics.

Shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain about 30 years ago, Bergmann decided not to expand the previously diverse collaborations with colleagues from the USA. Instead, he sought to establish contacts in Eastern Europe. Through visits in the 70s and 80s to Hungary, Latvia, Russia, and Poland, he knew that the natural sciences education there was excellent. Additionally, it was evident that after the Wende in 1990, many young colleagues left these countries to work in the West.

From 1996 onwards, a variety of scientists, often accompanied by their students, from Riga/Latvia, Kyiv/Ukraine, Sofia/Bulgaria, and Yerevan/Armenia, visited him for several months each year over many years. Prof. Bergmann emphasized that the colleagues should return to their home countries after their stay at TUK. Many of his guests have since achieved leading positions in science and science policy in their home countries. Close contact continues especially with Kyiv and Sofia. The visits from Eastern European guests were scientifically very fruitful for both sides. They were generously supported by the German Research Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Professor Bergmann earned his doctorate in 1972 at the University of Freiburg and, after a stay at the University of California in Berkeley in 1975, moved to the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, where he habilitated in 1980. Until 2007, he was active in the Department of Physics at TUK, and subsequently held a senior research professorship until the end of 2015. Since 2017, he has been working in industry in the field of laser measurement technology.

Bergmann held several spokesperson positions at TUK, was a member of the university council from 2003 to 2008, and was on the board of the State Research Center for Optics and Material Sciences (OPTIMAS) until the end of 2018. He received numerous scientific awards and honors, including the Max Planck Research Award for International Cooperation in 2003 and the Order of Merit of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate in 2005. In 2020, he was honored by the American Physical Society for the development of the now worldwide-used STIRAP process with the Davisson-Germer Prize 2020 for Atomic and Surface Physics. The prize is considered one of the highest awards in this field. Among the 27 previous recipients from atomic physics, five are later Nobel laureates. Bergmann is only the third non-American to receive the award.

The Senate of the University of Sofia had already decided in December 2019 to award Bergmann the honorary doctorate. Due to COVID-19, the ceremony for presenting the certificate was postponed several times. It finally took place on May 27th.